Quote:
Originally Posted by Erin Rapacki
Yes, that's entirely my point! Girls have to be initiated into engineering, and what may seem to be "not their thing" may actually be a layer of extreme interest covered up by a lack of self confidence. Ultimately, once they've gained confidence in their ideas... it won't matter that they're a girl, they'll give technical input no matter what.
As for getting design ideas, they need to own some kind of design aspect... even if its a pre-season thing or a small part of the robot. It takes ownership of something to finally "get it"...
It'll be a big push to get the ball rolling, but once it rolls... it flies. Try it.
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I'm not entirely sure I agree with the statement I bolded. In some cases, yes, it takes some kind of kick to get a girl interested or get past her conception of engineering as a "guys' thing". But doesn't it also often take a kick to get some of the guys interested or get them past the conception of robotics as a "nerd thing"?
I've never felt that robotics was "not my thing"; then again, I joined the team when none of us really had a clue what we were doing since it was our rookie year, so maybe I'm not the greatest example. However, I really don't like the implication that
all girls need to be "pushed" into engineering, when some just kind of fall into it on their own - or even better, seek it out as a chance to learn something new. That's why a few of the girls on our team joined. (I personally joined because I had nothing better to do at the time - it hooked me just the same way as it hooked the guys on my team at the same time.)